Garden Tip 224

A single crabgrass plant can produce up to 150,000 seeds. Crabgrass control is most often talked about in the spring, but a bit of attention to it in the fall can help lessen its presence next season. Unlike the grasses that make up our lawns, crabgrass thrives in hot dry weather and it can become invasive at this time of year. The crabgrass plant is producing seed now. I have a mulching mower that I normally use all summer long. During this time of year, however, I mow and bag the clippings every second or third mowing in order to collect the developing crabgrass seed heads. It isn’t necessary to kill the plant because it is an annual and the first hard frost will take care of that. Look now as well for the tell-tale clumps of this wide bladed grass in your shrub borders, flower beds and vegetable gardens.  Pull those plants or snap those seed heads before they have a chance to mature. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.